The city of Shawano, Wis., is one step closer to...
The city of Shawano, Wis., is one step closer to being able to sell its video, VoIP and Internet assets to Bertram Communications, due to a Wisconsin Public Service Commission ruling in a notice to proceed filing Thursday (http://xrl.us/bnhknt). The…
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town of just over 9,000 residents has operated a municipal network providing video, VoIP and Internet starting a half decade ago and now provides interconnected VoIP telephone service for 298 customers and cable and Internet for more than 500 customers, Shawano said in a June 4 request (http://xrl.us/bnhkk9). The government-run service “failed to reach its performance goals in terms of the quality of service offerings, reliability of its service and size of its customer base” and suffered from higher-than-expected costs and lower-than-expected revenue, the city said. Shawano had to draw $712,700 in credit from a local bank in 2011 and is “currently operating at minimal service levels with limited new customer connection,” according to its petition. The city said Bertram Communications has 14,000 customers throughout the region and would expand the fiber network the city has begun. If the sale is allowed to proceed, Shawano will sell its video, Internet and certain VoIP facilities immediately and sell the dedicated VoIP equipment once Bertram “places in service the equipment necessary for it to provide VoIP services to Shawano’s existing customers,” Shawano said. Staff has had “a fair amount of conversation” on this, said Wisconsin Commissioner Eric Callisto at Thursday’s meeting. The commissioners agreed that deeper analysis of the situation is needed, while endorsing the notice to proceed for now. The PSC asks for comments by July 31 and if there isn’t any opposition, it “will proceed with granting the request for a declaratory ruling” to Shawano, the commission said Thursday.